“The Tao of Steve” does not have a large cast of characters, but it knows them well. A married friend (David Aaron Baker) whom Dex has yet to cuckold is continually making cutting remarks about Don Giofatti’s lifestyle that slide under Dex’s radar. Dex accuses him and his wife of adopting romantic love as a religion, superseding even their relationship with God. He even speculates that America’s national religion is romantic love (apparently he’s overlooking Dante’s “new life” theory, or whatever it’s called, in which the pure love of an ideal woman improves your love of God). Dex’s young roommate, initially dubious of the Tao, becomes its student, and eventually Dex can’t help feeling he’s set the boy a bad example. Greer Garson, as Sid, sees through Dex’s philosophy time and time again, and is unwilling to coddle him despite their attraction. “The Tao of Steve” knows that men need sympathy and to be fawned over, and Sid fights her mothering urge for as long as possible, or at least until Dex stops boinking someone else’s wife.
The movie is set in New Mexico, a refreshing switch from New York and L.A. where most movies think love grows. Making her feature film debut, director Jenniphr Goodman (that’s right, “Jenniphr”) could have let our POV sit like a bump on a log and given us a well-written sitcom, but she wields her camera in circles around her characters, uses some clever edits, and continually features them against rich Southwestern backdrops. The oranges of the deserts, the greens of the forest, and the long shadows of the evening and photographed with care, and every outdoor scene has either a fantastic sky of perfect pillow clouds or lush, cactus-covered slopes. “The Tao of Steve” also features an almost non-stop soundtrack of cheerful guitar pop from bands with mellow-voiced singers. While there are some truly clever uses of Steve themes, and Dex struggles through a hike set to the Lemonheads’ “I Lied About Being the Outdoor Type,” some of the scenes would have benefited from a little more silence.
At its barest outlines “The Tao of Steve” follows the traditional path of romantic comedies, only it’s so much smarter. There are no stupid misunderstandings or irrelevant subplots involving stolen jewels or money for an orphanage. Most of the women are good-looking by real-world standards, but not movie sex goddesses, and they have wrinkles, bad haircuts, and imperfect makeup just like in real-life. The guys are mostly slobs and there are even a few grey hairs. It’s a little movie, content to be what it is, and there’s only a little dirty talk and no nudity. “The Tao of Steve” never turns soppy or sentimental, and while it has a serious side, it never becomes heavy-handed. And what is the serious side, the revelation that completes Dex’s circle and finally causes him to tuck his shirt in? It isn’t that the Tao is the wrong way to live life, but he’s just missed the obvious hint of how to use it.
Finished October 12th, 2002
Copyright © 2002 Friday & Saturday Night